15009: Strategic biosecurity intervention for the containment of cleavers

Cleavers (Galium aparine) is a new highly invasive
declared weed with potential to infest extensive areas of the
Southwest.

Cleavers is spread by animals, machinery and water, is a highly
competitive plant that replaces native vegetation by smothering and
producing allopathic chemicals that inhibit recruitment of existing
vegetation.

Identified as a few isolated sleeper infestations east of
Bridgetown in 2004, cleavers now infest up to 20km of the Blackwood
River and tributaries, 15km of roadside and 2.5km2 of crown land
and private property, with the potential to impact two nearby
national parks and key natural ecosystems and affect nearby
agricultural areas.

This project will:

equip the Blackwood Biosecurity Inc. and Shire with an
integrated GIS mapping and Declared Pest reporting platform for
collection, and utilisation of weed mapping data;

collaborate with WALGA via the "Environmental Planning Tool"
Team and DAFWA through the "Agricultural weed surveillance in the
South West to effectively map, control and monitor outlier
infestations and the containment of existing Galium aparine
infestations;

engage other land managers and stakeholders to reduce the rate
of spread and degree of seed bank contamination of Galium
aparine within the currently infested areas via coordinated
multi stakeholder herbicide application.